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PITTSTON - The sales pitch promised teenage girls they could make up to $1,000 a night.

Police allege members of a local prostitution ring offered teens drugs and bragged about how the ringleaders could afford a house and vehicles by having girls turning tricks at $150 to $200 an hour.

When the girls didn't take the bait, however, the pimps intimidated them into sexual servitude, police allege.

Pittston police on Thursday arrested two men and were seeking two more in connection with a prostitution ring that ran out of a house at 245 N. Main St., according to a police affidavit.

"We have multiple juveniles that are being promoted through the use of prostitution," Pittston police Sgt. Neil Murphy said. "It's definitely a sick, heinous crime given that they're using female juveniles to profit."

Police on Thursday arrested Anthony Lamont "D-Lo" Boone, 30, and his brother, Gregory "C-Lo" Boone, 29, both of Pittston, on three counts of promoting the prostitution of a minor and one count each of conspiring to promote the prostitution of a minor, criminal use of a communication facility, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors.

Police also have warrants for the arrests of Jose "P" Alvelo, 19, of Nanticoke and Randy "Holliday" Coleman, no age given, of Pittston, on the same charges. Sgt. Murphy said police believe they are still in the area and police are asking for the public's help finding them.

It appears the group had been in operation since at least August, and investigators are working with state police because the operation covered multiple municipalities in the area, Sgt. Murphy said.

The investigation is continuing as police try to determine whether more girls were victimized, he said.

"There could be others, and we're hoping that as a result of this arrest they will be more likely to come forward," Sgt. Murphy said.

The police affidavit says officers began investigating the operation in September, when the mother of a 16-year-old reported several men living at the Main Street address had been trying to recruit her daughter into prostitution.

The woman reported two other underage girls - one identified in court documents as a co-defendant - were working for the operation and that her daughter was being threatened on Facebook for refusing to become a prostitute, police said.

Another 16-year-old girl told police the underage co-defendant, who turned 18 on Oct. 4, contacted her on Facebook during the summer asking if she wanted to hang out, police said. The underage co-defendant and Mr. Alvelo, her boyfriend, picked the teen up in a vehicle driven by Gregory Boone, and they went to the Main Street address, according to police.

The underage co-defendant began asking the girl if she knew what a "call" was, explaining she could be paid up to $200 an hour for sex, the affidavit says.

The victim declined, but the group later drove around with Anthony Boone's girlfriend, Katie McGarry, as she went on "calls" at hotels in Plains Twp., Moosic and Avoca, according to the affidavit.

When the rounds were complete, they picked up another teen and tried convincing her to turn tricks. They offered to sell the first girl marijuana and Oxycontin, but she didn't have the money, police said.

Everyone in the vehicle began trying to convince the girls to sell themselves, with the underage co-defendant trying to convince the girls that they might not have to have sex, police said.

"Some want massages," the affidavit quotes her as saying. "Some have fetishes."

The girls refused, police said. But the next day, they brought one of the girls and an 18-year-old back to the Main Street house, police said.

The 18-year-old agreed to do it, but the 16-year-old refused, prompting Gregory Boone to pull her into Mr. Coleman's room and tell her the underage co-defendant had told him she was going to be a prostitute, so she "was going to do it," according to the affidavit.

Having seen Anthony Boone hit Ms. McGarry earlier, the girl was scared but agreed, police said. The underage co-defendant came into the room with a phone and ordered the girl and the 18-year-old to take off their shirts and pose for topless pictures to promote the prostitution business online, police said.

The girl told police she complied out of fear because she was scared to find out what would happen if she refused, the affidavit says.

The girls chose hooker names - Bubbles and Gabby - and waited until they began getting calls on a prepaid cellphone, the complaint alleges.

The underage co-defendant offered callers $300 for both girls, and they were soon on their way to a motel in Pittston Twp., according to the affidavit.

The girls got a supply of condoms and were instructed to get the money first and only stay for the allotted time, police said.

At the hotel, Mr. Coleman rented a room, but the group was soon scared off when a police officer pulled into the parking lot, according to the affidavit.

The crew then went to another hotel in Tunkhannock, where the girls were sent to have sex with a trucker, police say.

The girls received cellphones in case of trouble and went to the room, where they encountered the john. The 16-year-old was "freaking out" so she went to the bathroom, and when she came out the 18-year-old had the $300 in hand, the complaint says.

They spent half the time talking because they were nervous, and then the girls took off their clothes as the man touched them. When the man said he wanted to have sex with the 18-year-old, the younger girl stalled until time was up, and they left, the affidavit says.

The man "was not happy but didn't cause a problem about it," according to the affidavit.

The girls went back to the vehicle and handed Mr. Alvelo the $300, getting $50 each in return, police said. Mr. Alvelo, Mr. Coleman and Gregory Boone split the remaining $200 for being "bodyguards," the affidavit says.

The 16-year-old told the group neither she nor the 18-year-old wanted to be involved anymore, and during the ride back to her house, everyone kept asking why not, the affidavit says.

Police say information on the website allegedly used by the group backed up the girls' accounts of events.

Magisterial District Judge Gerald Feissner arraigned Anthony Boone on Thursday morning and set his bail at $500,000. Gregory Boone was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge David A. Barilla, who also set bail at $500,000.

Both men were being held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility with preliminary hearings set for 1 p.m. Oct. 23.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Mr. Alvelo and Mr. Coleman is asked to call police at 570-654-2425, Ext. 509.

Contact the writer: jhalpin@citizensvoice.com, @cvjimhalpin

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